Benitez is taking a lot of stick from fans and non-fans alike but here are 10 (OK, nine) good reasons to love the man:

1. His detractors still put it down to as much to luck as judgment, but the achievement in taking that ragtag bunch of players to Champions League glory in 2005 just can’t be underestimated. The shake-up at half-time, bringing on Dietmar Hamann and switching to a three-man defence, changed a game that no one in the world believed could be salvaged and gave Benitez the defining moment of his coaching career.

2. David Ngog. You can pore over the transfer record all you like, and many, many fans, bloggers and journalists have, but the signing of French striker Ngog for just 1.5 million pounds from PSG will surely go down as a terrific piece of business. Ngog has a great career ahead of him, if used wisely. If…

3. Montse. Kenny Dalglish once claimed that he couldn’t give a TV reporter any clues about who would be playing the Cup final as it was his wife, Marina who always picked the team. Rafa doesn’t go that far but his wife Montse did have a role in keeping him at the club in 2007. “Benitez is not going anywhere. He’s under contract and he told me that his wife has said that if he ever did go, he’d have to go without her because she’s staying in Liverpool!” co-owner Tom Hicks was quoted as saying.

5. Attacking style. Valencia fans have mixed feelings about Benitez but most recognise that he at least tried to play a more attacking style – as opposed to the counter-attacking strategy under Hector Cuper — and it was rewarded with those two league titles. When he joined Liverpool, it was a similar story, at least early on, as the team played the ball around much more than they had done towards the end of the Gerard Houllier era. So at least he tried.

7. Zonal marking. This has been a source of great joy for opposition teams in the Premier League this season, so if you are a fan of another club you should be praising Benitez to the skies.

8. Thattrip to the pub. It is by no means unusual for Liverpool fans to go to the boozer on a European trip but no one expected the team manager to turn up at an Irish bar in Cologne.

9. Fernando Torres. If David Ngog shows Benitez has an eye for a bargain, the signing of Torres shows it’s sometimes worth shopping at the nose-bleed end of the market… as long as you get the right player. Torres cost 20 million pounds or so and would be worth at least twice that now and quite possibly a lot more, which if nothing else should make up for purchases such as Dossena, Riera, Babel, etc, etc…

10. Ok, that’s only nine. Anyone care to nominate a 10th?

PHOTO: Liverpool’s coach Rafa Benitez gives instructions to his players during their Champions League match against Atletico Madrid in Madrid October 22, 2008. REUTERS/Felix Ordonez

Hang about… point number two!? Hard to tell from words on a page… but are you actually being serious!? N’gog!? The most worthless piece of s*** to grace the premier league!? How about getting rid of crouch, keane, alonso… that’s a reason to love him.Joe Murphy, EFC fan

He is so pink and puffy. He is like a stubborn teddybear, always complaining of the need to botch up his starting eleven due to a slew of injuries… (Was it not for Torres’ injury, we would not have dropped out of the CL)